Lights
by strawberryotaku
Summary: You didn't stop being a ninja for the holidays, it wasn't done. [chuunin JirTsu, rated for language] Christmas fic.


Once again, no spell/grammar check. Umm . . . I love this fic. One of my better ones, I think.

**EDIT:** Thanks encyser for pointing out about the spelling and grammar issues. I've gone back to fix them.

**Disclaimer: **Am I typing on that nice new laptop, or playing that pretty guitar? No. I am not rich. I do not own Naruto.

* * *

One thing that Tsunade hated, especially around the holidays was that she was a ninja and her parents were ninja. They hadn't all spent a Christmas together since she was little, and this year they were both going to be home.

And she wasn't.

It was a last minute mission, and Tsunade really wasn't happy with it. All of their team was going. Her, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya. Now that they were all chuunin; Sarutobi-sensei didn't have to go around with them.

And with Jiraiya constantly bickering with Orochimaru, she was the only one to keep the peace. And Kami knows that's got to be harder than killing an S-Class missing nin.

The three were meeting, now. It was Christmas eve, and Orochimaru was there at their usual meeting spot standing against a tree, and Tsunade was sitting on a rock.

Jiraiya was late. He should've been here ten minutes ago. Orochimaru and her already had their gear on and everything.

"We should go get him, Orochimaru-kun." She said, yet another few minutes later, "We can't afford to be any later."

"You go on, I'll stay in case the baboon comes."

She nodded, and tugged on her scarf to cover her neck better, it was chilly and getting dark. They were supposed to be using the dark for cover. It wasn't too bad of a mission, they were just stopping a robbery a man was tipped off on. Normally a job for regular police, but the man didn't want them to be a problem in the future.

Heh. Christmas Eve, a time of peace.

For her, it would be time to kill. The bitter irony of it, she thought biting her lip as she turned onto the road she recalled Jiraiya's house to be on. There it was, it had a frog with a santa hant on the door. She would have laughed, at the oddly cute drawing on his door, but she wasn't in the mood.

She knocked on the door, once, twice, three times.

"Jiraiya?"

She pulled her coat tighter, and shivered. For Konohagakure being in the Country of Fire it was always frezing around this time of year-she hated it because it was so cold.It was beautiful when the snow first came around-but there was still training to do and missions to be executed.

You didn't stop being a ninja for the holidays, it wasn't done. You could have peace one year, and chaos the net.

The blonde frowned at the lack of response from her teammate.

"Jiraiya?" She repeated, louder this time, knocking on the door again-louder.

She waited a moment, no response. He might be asleep, the mission forgotten. Or maybe he was like her, and he didn't really want to go on this mission at all? To hang around at the shop and protect the stuck up owner and clean up the mess they were being paid to make.

Tsunade sighed and turned the door knob, expecting the chill but still jumping at the cold metal. She opened the door, it was dark overall, but there were some lights hung up in the hallway, happhazardly in the manenr one could expect from Jiraiya. She chuckled a bit as she imagined him fumbling around trying to put them up.

She called his name again, louder. She didn't hear anything.

"Dammit, Jiraiya! We're going to be late, get your ass out here, we have a mission! Orochimaru is waiting on us, and who knows what'll happen if we don't do it!"

She stomped down the hallway, flipping on any lightswitch she saw, until she reached where the small living room was. The lightswitch was covered with something. Tape? She squinted her eyes, it was dark in this room. It looked like some tacky Christmas decoration.

Suddenly, a shuffling movement reached her ears and instinctively Tsunade grabbed some shuriken from her bag in a flash.

"Who's there?"

"I said 'Who's there?'" She tightened her grip on the throwing stars as she narrowed her eyes. Another shuffle of movement, and the room was suddenly lit up with astonoshing reds and greens and gold's.

Her mouth formed a small 'o' in astonishment, an evergreen tree was decorated with the most gorgeous ornaments and each string of flashing lights carefully placed on- a dazzling sparkling star placed on the top, looking fine even though it was a bit lopsided.

"Jiraiya?" She called, turning around looking for the white-headed pervert. Where was he? It had to have been him who turned the lights on. Surely . . . But she didn't see him, "Jiraiya?" She asked, going over to the area where she had first heard the sound from. He wasn't there.

She paused, however, there was a red envelope with her name on it taped to the window sill, the window was open. Tsunade frowned, she knew were this was going.

_Dear Tsunade,  
If you really must know where I am, you'll have to find me. Catch me if you can!  
Jiraiya_

She cursed, colorfully, under her breathe as she jumped out of the window and onto the ledge. That damned idiot. They had a mission to go on!

The blonde cursed again and looked around. She saw a glint of red in the distance, it was moving. It had to be Jiraiya. Angrily, she jumped to the next building-frowing and mummbling negative phrases about the frog-boy as she followed the glinting light, wincing at the chill of the increasingly cold and bitter wind.

She was gaining on the pervert, that was odd. He was faster than her, in training. He must be slowing down. Tsunade frowned, she wasn't familiar with this part of the city. And her lungs were starting to freeze over, it felt.

Angrilly, she sped up. The training grounds had to be all the way across town by now. She was going to beat that idiot to a pulp! They might get demoted back to boring missions, not that their soon-to-be-current one was fun, but it wasn't babysitting!

Urg! She was going to kill him!

"Jiraiya! Stop right now!" She yelled, boomed, angrilly, frowning and narrowing her eyes increasingly. She was going to KILL him! She was so damned cold.

She stopped, and the red glint in the increasing darkness of the secluded area already had, "Jiraiya!" She frowned, after yelling it, "Get your ass back here!"  
The glint did not return, however she could hear someone coming in her direction as she hugged her jacket closer, pulled her scarf tighter and wished that she had a hat. The person who she was out to kill, came into the clearing with a rather large red hat hanging lopsided on his head.

When he was close enough, Tsunade punched him in the face.

"Chikuso! That hurt!"

"It was supposed to idiot! What's this for! We have a mission you idiot, and if we're late who know's what will happen! Orochimaru's been waiting for us to go and do the mission."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes, but put a lopsided grin on and reached into his coat retreiving a small box.

"Eh, for you."

A questioning look was evident in Tsunade's eyes as she stared at him for a moment before taking the box and carefully unwrapping it. It was a red box, with green lining on the edges, she took the lid off slowly and stared blankly at what was in it. Tears sprung to her eyes, and she threw her arms around the white-headed boy.

He smiled, "I went back and got it for you, I know it was already yours . . . but, I was running low on money. After the display in my house I hooked up for you." It was an awkward moment really, with Tsunade hugging him and crying words of thanks into his shoulder, not knowing what else to do he reached up and pat her back a few times.

In the box was the necklace of Tsunade's grandfather, on one of the missions from a few days ago it had been stolen from her by some of the thugs they had been fighting and the men got away. It was in perfect condition.

"Thank you so much, Jiraiya." She said, "You're crazy, you could have gotten hurt, you idiot." Quickly, she pulled back, taking the necklace out, closing the box and carefully putting it inside her coat. She put the necklace on and smiled, "But come on. We're going to be late."

He nodded, "Merry Christmas."

He thought she would start crying again.


End file.
